Osmolator Nano 3152 - Hardware issue or user error?

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Hasted

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Looked around, but couldn't find a thread that was the same situation as mine with this ATO.

I just picked up this nano ATO this weekend. I can only get it to work ONE time every time the power supply is plugged in. If I unplug and replug, it will work as intended ONE time, then no longer work.

Both scenarios of:

1. Plug in with sensor under water. Slowly lift sensor. Pump activates until I submerge it again.
2. Plug in with sensor dry. Pump activates until I submerge it.

I then can no longer get the pump to activate, regardless of time. For example, I put the sensor in my display (stable water level) with sensor submerged. An hour later, I tried to lift it to trigger the pump. No luck. Left it like that for over a minute without any action from pump.

I can, however, hear the relay box (or what ever you call it), "clicking" every time the sensor SHOULD be triggering on and off.

I have tried it with and without the magnets.
I have double checked the sensor to make sure it is clean. It is sparkly.
I have cleaned up the contacts on the power supply in the relay and inside the relay. Also cleaned up the bare wires that push in.

I have tried everything I can think of!
 

rvitko

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Are you sure it is not timing out? The Nano Osmolator safety is a timer, this timer is preset from the factory for a tank under 26 gallons, the pump can only run 1 min 45 seconds before timing out, the float has to rise before time out to reset the timer so it can run the next time, this time limit equates to 1- 1.5 quarts. For a 26-55 gallon tank, the safety timer section in the manual explains how to open the controller and set a longer time limit, this system will not work reliably on a system over 55 gallons. When the unit has timed out, the pump twitches every 10-20 seconds for several hours before it shuts down completely, only cycling the power can reset the timer.

The other possibilities would be a magnet affecting the float, the float is a magnetic switch, the magnet holders must be carefully lined up flush on a pane 3/16-3/8" thick to cancel out and not affect the float, any offset of the float holder or overlap on trim or offset of the magnets will cause interference, no other magnet should be within 4".

If the pump is dying or defective, the pump will tend to stop cold in under 30 seconds, the controller monitors the pumps power consumption and depending on how much of an overload the pump will stop in 0-30 seconds.
 
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Hasted

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I do not think it is a time out issue. I have not ran it more than 30 seconds probably. I have tried very short run times also. I can run it tonight continuously to see if I can hit the time out to compare it with what is happening.

I have tried it with popping the shroud and sensor off the magnet also. I can try it with it all connected with a chunk of cardboard tonight. I just read that fixed some issues for people.

However, it still works the first time regardless of my set up. Once powered, it operates exactly as I would expect one time (with and without magnets. I also can hear the box clicking so it seems it is registering that it SHOULD work, but something isn't going as planned. I THINK I have it all set up correctly.
 

Reef.

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I would try removing water rather than moving the sensor up and down, may help.

Put the sensor in place, then remove water to trigger the pump. See if it still only runs once.
 
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I would try removing water rather than moving the sensor up and down, may help.

Put the sensor in place, then remove water to trigger the pump. See if it still only runs once.
Will do tonight! Thanks for the suggestion!
 

rvitko

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I generally find the best test is to just have the float in hand and cycle it, keep in mind there is a 3 second delay, so you need to cycle it slowly. This will rule out magnetic interference.

Try timing how long the pump runs, if it is stopping in under 30 seconds and the float is still down, I think the issue is a bad pump. If it uses over 900mA, it will be shut down by the controller, the more over that limit it is, the sooner it shuts down.
 
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Got busy yesterday and couldn't fiddle.

Got it all hooked back up today to test... and it works 100% as intended all of a sudden? What.. haha. I messed with this thing for a couple hours over like 4 days with no luck. And then, bam!

Going to hook it to my nano with a very limited Reservoir to start to make sure it is really working.

Thanks for the help everyone. I can't explain what happened though...
 

rvitko

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The most common cause in a scenario like this is the line up of the magnets, both the inside and outside half have the 4 slots for the float housing, make sure these are oriented the same and the two line up so they shadow each other.
 

Reef.

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Got busy yesterday and couldn't fiddle.

Got it all hooked back up today to test... and it works 100% as intended all of a sudden? What.. haha. I messed with this thing for a couple hours over like 4 days with no luck. And then, bam!

Going to hook it to my nano with a very limited Reservoir to start to make sure it is really working.

Thanks for the help everyone. I can't explain what happened though...

My nano Tunze was a pain for the first couple of weeks too, I was looking for a replacement, then like yours it started to behave itself.
 
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The most common cause in a scenario like this is the line up of the magnets, both the inside and outside half have the 4 slots for the float housing, make sure these are oriented the same and the two line up so they shadow each other.
Unfortunately I didn't pay attention to that before to know if that was the issue. It worked over night, so it seems to be correct now regardless!

Thanks for the help everyone.
 
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Mine is doing the same thing, I suspected a dying relay. How is yours holding up?
Zero issues since getting it working. I am not sure what I was doing wrong when I first hooked it up. Maybe moving the float too quickly?
 

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